The Blind Princess
by albinotanuki
Summary: A blind, exiled princess comes to live in the castle and Cedric is given the task to find a cure for her blindness, but will he discover even more?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Cedric or _Sofia the First. _I only own this stories and the original characters in them.

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Everyone downstairs was busy greeting an exiled princess who had come to the castle to stay with us, but I had no interest. All royalty was the same to me; spoilt, privileged people who look down on others. Instead, I had better things to do, like making a fast-growing potion for my begonias.

I was grabbing the last ingredient of my potion: a single hair from a unicorn's mane. I carefully picked the hair from it's container and slowly dropped it in the cauldron, only to have it blow up in my face. I'm quite use to my spells going wrong, but never-the-less, it stilled annoyed me when they don't go according to plan. It was at that moment, I heard the door swing open and the voice of an old woman speak.

"Excuse me, but are you Cedric the sorcerer? Princess Lore wanted me to ask you a favor."

I groaned in annoyance, trying to clean off my work area, "Can't you see that I'm busy at the moment?"

"I can, but she can't; her Highness is completely blind. She wondered if you be able to make her see with your magic."

I swirved around in my stool to look over. I saw the old woman, who was small and feeble, and by her side was a young woman with ebony hair. The look on her face seemed distant and forlorn. I don't consider myself to be a soft sorcerer, but I realized then that I couldn't just turn them away.

"Alright, bring her over."

I got up from my stool and offered it for the princess to sit on. The old woman lead the princess over and sat her down. I knelt over to get a closer look at the princess.

"Alright your highness, just open you eyes so I can have a look at them."

Princess Lore cringed a little, as if she was uncomfortable with me seeing them.

"Its alright; its just an examination." I said, placing my hand on her's for reassurance.

The princess opened her eyes. They were clouded and Wedgewood blue. It was not the color of her eyes that distrurbed me; I mostly expected them to look that way; it was the fact that her eyes had no life to them. Even most blind people would have some form of life in their eyes, but Princess Lore's eyes were completely devoid of it.

"How long has she had this?" I asked the old woman.

"Since birth." replied the old woman, "Her mother was quite ill and died after delivering her."

Sounded to me like her blindness was caused from complication at birth.

"I'll need to do some research for a potential cure. I'll let you two know I find anything."

"Thank you." said the old woman before taking the princess and leading her out of the workshop.

After the two left, I realized by finding a cure for the Princess' blindness, it would not only benefit her, but me as well. If I were to give the Princess her sight with my magic, I would be hailed as the greatest sorcerer of all time. I had no time to lose; I had to find a cure.

I stood up all night trying to find a spell or a potion that would cure blindness, but I found nothing; not even mention of a magic flower growing in a faraway land that could give sight to the blind. I was getting quite frustrated. I was so desperate, I even turned to the painting of my deceased parents.

"Mother, Father, I'm sure you know of a cure for blindness."

But my parents said nothing; just stood their in their portrait.

"Oh sure, bother me when I don't need help, but when I actually do, you two choose to remain silent. Why can't I have parents who support me?!"

I turned away from the painting, crossing my arms in frustration. Perhaps I should try testing out various potions that might help.


	2. Chapter 2

I had worked for the past three days trying to concoct a potion for Princess Lore without any luck. I barely got any sleep and my frustration was growing by the hour, hoping that at least one this potions would work, only to have it fail. I barely came out of my workshop, which concerned Princess Sofia so much that he had to send food to my room, including a plate of chocolate chip cookies.

I was continuing with my research and making one last potion. I had asked Princess Amber to give me some peacock eyes from her pet peacock (whom he insists is a girl, but we all know that only the males have eyes on their tails). I added the eyes to the cauldron along with some escense of rainbow and powdered trolls' glass. Everything seemed to be going alright, until I noticed that the potion started to etch its way through the bottom of the cauldron and the table of my work area.

"Oh Merlin's Mushrooms!" I cursed, "Now I have to buy a new cauldron AND work table!"

I grabbed my parchment that I have been writing down recipes for all the potions I've been making. As I scratched out the last potion on the list, I accidentally gave myself a papercut.

"OW! Finnigan's Fungus!"

As I started sucking on my finger, an idea came to my head, but in order to make it work, I would need to ask the Princess a favor.

I went down the halls and over to the door of the Princess' room. I knocked.

"Princess Lore, are you decent? I need to ask a favor of you."

"Hold on!" said the old woman inside.

The old woman opened the door and let me inside. I noticed that much of the furniture was padded, which to be honest, disturbed me a little. Then I saw the Princess sitting in the corner on a velvet-covered couch, still with that same forelorn face.

"Princess Lore," I said, clearing my voice, "I've been spending quite some time trying to find a cure for your blindness and I think I might have a solution... but... I'm going to need your blood."

"WHAT?!" gasped the old woman.

"It'll only take an ounce; it won't hurt her outside of a tiny prick on her arm."

"Absolutely not!" said the old woman, "Princess Lore is not to be hurt in any way!"

"I'll do it." spoke the Princess in a soft, desperate voice (it was nice to know she wasn't also mute).

"But Princess-" said the old woman, trying to reason with her.

"Alma, if doing this means I'll be able to see, then I'm willingly give my blood for that chance."

I could see the old woman was unsure about the Princess' decission, but she sighed and nodded.

"Alright," I said, "Follow me into my workshop."

We all went to my workshop. I had both of them sit down as I grabbed a syringe, some alcohol, and a tourniquet from my supply cabinet. I walked over and took the Princess' arm before I started wrapping the tourniquet around it.

"Don't tie it on too tight!" panicked the old woman.

"I have to make it tight to keep the blood from moving away from her arm." I replied, keeping my composure while tying on the tourniquet.

"I just hope she doesn't get an infection from this."

"Don't worry; I'm using a sterile needle and putting on some alcohol to prevent that from happening."

I wiped Princess Lore's arm with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. I grabbed my syringe and concentrated as I was about to place the needle in her vein.

"Please don't hurt her!"

I had started to lose my patients with the old woman.

"Madame, if you keep distracting me like that, I most certainly am going to end up hurting her!"

That was when the Princess spoke up.

"Alma, maybe you should wait outside until we're done."

I could see the embarrasment in the old woman's face as she exited the room; I started to feel a bit ashamed for yelling at her.

"I'm sorry about Alma." said the Princess.

"No, I'm sorry." I sighed, "I tend to get irritated when I'm distracted, but that's no excuse for me to yell at her. Now, this will pinch just a little."

I gently inserted the needle into Princess Lore's vein and started to draw out the crimson liquid from her arm. I gently removed the needle from the Princess' arm.

"Alright, we're done." I said as I place a bandage on her arm, "Now, that wasn't so bad, now was it?"

"I feel funny."

I could see all the color in the Princess' face start to fade and before I knew it, she started to faint.

"Princess!"

I caught the Princess in my arms before she could fall to the floor. As I held her, I started to feel a strange, warm tingling through my body. I took a brief look at Princess Lore; while the color in her face was flushed out, I saw there was something about it that made her captivating; that made her... beautiful.

I snapped myself back to reality after realizing that she needed a place to rest while she recovers.

"Wormy, fetch me my wand!"

I could hear Wormwood grumble under his beak before grabbing my wand and flying over to hand it to me. I used the wand to summon a fainting couch.

"Torum deficientes!"

I lay the Princess down on the couch as she started to come through.

"What happened?"

"You fainted." I replied, "Don't worry, lots of people do when they get their blood drawn; I certainly do."

I handed Princess Lore the plate of cookies Princess Sofia gave to me.

"Here, these will get your blood sugar back up."

The Princess started stuffing the cookies in her face in the most un-princess like fashion.

"These are really good. Did you make these cookies?"

"No, actually Princess Sofia made them; she got worried about me not eating, so she sent these to my workshop."

"That's sweet of her." said Princess Lore, "Does she often come visit you here?"

"She does." I replied, "She often comes in whenever she needs my help... and whenever I'm trying to do something important."

Princess Lore chuckled. It was the first time I ever saw her smile and in turn, it put a smile on my own face.

It was at that moment Alma came in and gasped in shock when she saw the Princess on the fainting couch.

"Princess Lore, what happened?!"

"She's alright; she just fainted after having her blood drawn."

Alma gasped and ran over to Princess Lore's side.

"Oh Princess, you poor dear. Your face is covered in chocolate and crumbs; let me get that for you."

Alma grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket, grabbed Princess Lore's face, and started wiping it.

"Alma, I'm fine." said the Princess, getting her face scrunched by the old woman's hand, "Would you please stop?"

"Alright, I'm done." said Alma as she put the handkerchief away, "Now come on, I think you've had enough time with the sorcerer."

I watched as Alma lead the Princess out of my workshop as the Princess' face looked even more desperate than before. I looked down at the vial of blood in my hand, the task of finding a cure of Princess Lore's blindness started to gain even more importance. I would have to work even harder to find a cure.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: My apologies for the earlier upload; I didn't realize I used chapter 2 for chapter 3. Here is the real chapter 3.

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I was preparing the potion in my workshop. I mixed the Princess' blood with the saddle feather of a phoenix and a dragon's scale. I was almost complete with the potion; now all I needed was the Princess.

I went downstairs when, just my luck, I saw Alma leading Princess Lore through the hallway.

"Princess Lore, Alma, I'm glad I caught up with you two."

"Actually, we were just heading out right about now." said Alma as she was about to head the Princess away.

"Wait, just hear me out!" I said, "I have the potion made, but in order to activate its magic, we need to travel to Aine's Henge tonight; we HAVE to be present at that time because that's when the full moon is out."

"I'm sorry, but escorting the Princess at night would be too dangerous."

"But Alma, I want to go." said the Princess.

"Lore, I forbid it."

"No!" said Princess Lore as she pulled her hand away from the old woman, "Alma, I don't want to live like this any longer! As your Princess, I order you to let me go."

"And as your nanny appointed by your late father, I still say no."

"Father wouldn't even have died if I had been able to see!"

I had started to feel uneasy hearing these two quarrel. Even just by being a bystander, I felt embarrased just listening. Princess retreated in shame before Alma took her hand and lead her away. I could physically feel my heart ache as I watched her sightless eyes fill with tears. I knew that Alma would never allow me to take her with me, but I felt I had to do something.

Night fell and I was getting ready to head out.

"Well Wormy, this'll be the most foolish thing I've ever done and I've done many foolish things in my life."

Wormwood flew over and perched on my shoulder, as if offering to come along.

"I guess SOMEONE has to come along and make sure I don't mess things up."

We both left the workshop, sneaking down the hallway (I had my invisibility potion on hand just in case). As I approached the Princess' room door, I got out my magic skeleton key that can unlock any door and opened it. The padded room was fairly dark outside of light of the moon shining through the window. I saw Alma sleeping on the velvet couch, and on the other end, Princess Lore was sleeping in her guilded canopy bed. I silently approached her, seeing the moonlight caress her gentle face. I felt I would regret doing was I was about to do, but I knew I had no choice. I grabbed onto the Princess and as she woke up, I placed a hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.

"Shh. You don't want to wake up Alma." I whispered to her, "Listen: I'm sneaking you out and taking you to Aine's Henge."

"But Alma-" cried the Princess.

"Would you rather wait another month to gain your sight?"

"No."

"Then come with me."

"Don't I have to get dressed first?"

"No time. Here, let me help you up."

I helped her out of the bed and saw that she was wearing a sheer nightgown that showed off her hourglass sillouette; I couldn't look away.

"Are you alright, Cedric? I can feel your hands shaking a little." asked Princess Lore.

"Yes, I'm fine." I said, turning red, "Now lets go."

I lead the Princess through the hallways, occasionally dodging guards hear and there, until we came across a wall where I knew there was actually a door to a secret passage way that lead outside the castle. I lead her through the door and closed it gently before pressing onwards.

"It feels damp in here." said Princess Lore.

"That's because this passage way was built under the castle moat." I explained.

As we continued walking out of the passage way and into the woods, Princes Lore started to hold her arms and I noticed she had tiny goosebumps on her skin. I tried to think of what to give her to keep her warm; then I remembered: I was wearing a robe.

"Here." I said taking off my robe and placing it over the Princess' shoulders, "This'll keep you warm."

"Thank you." said the Princess.

Wormwood started to squak for attention, which startled the Princess.

"Don't worry; Wormwood just gets a bit jealous when he's not the center of attention." I said, scratching Wormy's black feathers.

"What kind of bird is Wormwood?" asked Princess Lore.

"He's a raven." I replied.

"Aren't ravens suppose to be bad omens?"

"Not at all. They're quite intelligent and Wormwood is always there to help me when I need it, like tonight for instance; his keen eyesight will help us navigate through the dark woods."

That was when I hit my face up against a branch.

"Ow! Alright, that doesn't count; we were distracted while talking."

Wormwood started to cackle.

"Are you okay?" asked the Princess in concern.

"I'm fine; its just a scratch." I said while holding my nose, "Now, we shouldn't be too far off from where we're going."

I pushed away some bushes as we approached a large circle clearing with bluestone menhir surrounding it.

"We're here." I said as I lead Princess Lore to the inner circle.

"So this is Aine's Henge?" asked the Princess.

"It is." I replied, "Ancient sorcerers use to come here to perform ritualistic spells, like we're doing tonight."

I got out my spellbook and the florence flask filled with the potion. I held the flask up to the light of the moon and spoke the ancient encantation.

"Full moon, give us your light so that we may be able to gain new sight."

As the moon's light hit the potion, the liquid inside started to change color and glow.

"Here, drink this." I said handing the flask over to the Princess, "If this works, you'll be able to gain your sight in no time."

Princess Lore took the flask and started to drink.

"It tastes sweet and metallic, like honey drizzled on iron."

"Drink it all so we get the full effect."

Princess Lore did just that until there was no more left of the potion. She then opened her eyes; they were the same cloudy blue eyes as before.

"Nothing's changed." sighed the Princess.

I felt my heart drop hearing those words. I closed my eyes, imagining the hot tears streaming down Princess Lore's face, stinging mine. I couldn't bear to see those tears in front of me.

"Its quite peaceful here."

"Hmm?" I questioned while opening my eyes.

"This place." said Princess Lore, "I can feel a strange calm around me."

Princess Lore let the robe I gave her slip off her shoulders and fall to the ground, once again revealing her sillouette through her sheer nightgown. She then started walking to the moonlight.

"I never knew the moon could have such magic to it; I can feel its power just by standing in its light."

Princess Lore then tripped and fell to the ground. I gasped and tried running to her.

"No, let me enjoy this!" said the princess as she rolled around in the grass and grabbed some blades to smell, "The grass is so wonderful."

That when I noticed there was something in her eyes: life. They were still cloudy, but for the first time, I saw there was life in them. I smiled; perhaps my potion gave her a different kind of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

I hadn't heard from Princess Lore after returning her to her room after our little journet. From what I have heard, her mood seemed to have gotten better. I wish Alma would've trusted me to see her again.

I had gotten quite tired after those days researching and I fell dead asleep. I don't know how long I slept, but by the time I woke up from a knock at the door, I realized what had been daylight before was now nightime. I was shocked to see who had entered: it was the Princess, scraped and bruised from head to toe.

"Princess Lore!" I said, running to her side, "What happened to you? How did you get here?"

"It wasn't easy." said the Princess with a weak smile.

"I must say, I'm quite impressed; even most sighted people have a hard time getting here..." I shook my head to try to snap myself back to reality, "but we need to treat those injuries of yours imediately."

I led Princess Lore to a stool, sat her down, and went to get some healing cobwebs and forever ice. I sat next to the Princess as I applied the cobwebs to her cuts as they magically disappeared.

"Now I'm going to apply some forever ice on your bruises, so you'll feel a bit of cold on your skin."

"Why is it called forever ice?" asked the Princess.

"Because it never melts no matter what temperature it's in." I explained, "It also helps get rid of bruises."

I placed the ice on her skin as the red bruise started to disapear.

"So you must help the royal family whenever they get sick or hurt." said the Princess.

"Not really." I replied, "Most of the medical supplies I have are for myself. I get hurt on the job quite often."

"Why?"

"I don't know; I tend to get nervous whenever I'm around the king and my spells end up backfiring. I'm only called in nowadays to do magic shows at parties or other meaningless tasks and even then I mess things up."

There was a bit of silence before the Princess reach over and took my hand.

"W-what are you-?" I spoke.

"You always wear those gloves on your hands. I just want to know what they're like on the inside."

I let her slip off my fingerless gloves and she started feeling them.

"Your hands are so soft, gentle, and delicate."

She then started feeling my right wrist.

"Did you ever break your wrist? I can feel where there use to be a fracture."

"I did." I replied, "When I was seven, I was climbing up my father's bookshelf to get a book and I fell. I had to learn how to use my left hand for quite some time and now I'm ambidexterous."

"So you've learnt to adapt despite your limitations." said Princess Lore, "Wish I could say the same thing about my blindness."

"Why did you come to me for a cure?" I asked, "I mean, I guess there's the fact about me being the son of Goodwyn the Great, but surely you've seen other sorcerers?"

"No." sighed the Princess, "Sorcery is forbidden in my kingdom as is all use of magic because people in the past have used it for evil purposes."

I blushed and looked away in embarrasment.

"You're tensing up again. Is something wrong?" asked Princess Lore.

"Its nothing." I said.

"That's not true; I can tell."'

"Lets just say I haven't always used my magic for selfless reasons." I sighed.

Princess Lore nodded as if she understood.

I then took the forever ice off of her skin after the last bruise had disappeared.

"There. You're all bruise and scratch free now. Now lets get you back to your room before Alma finds out; I'll need to keep looking for a cure for you."

"Wait!" said the Princess, "I want to help you with your magic."

"What? I'm sorry, but I can't-"

"Why? Because I'm blind?"

"No, I just prefer working alone."

"Please, I've never been allowed to do anything and I'm tired of feeling useless!"

Princess Lore then brought my hand up to her chest with a look of despiration on her face.

"You've been so good to me these past few days, Cedric; let me return the favor."

My heart started to flutter once more. My head kept telling me this wasn't a good idea, but my heart was protesting and my tongue wouldn't let me say no. Finally, I gave in.

"Alright, I'll let you be my apprentice."

The Princess smiled and threw her arms around me. I blushed wildly.

"Hold on." I said, taking her arms off me, "We'll have to meet up again around the same time while Alma is asleep." I then handed Princess Lore a bag of sleeping sand, "If you have to, use this sleeping sand to have her stay asleep; one pinch should do the trick."

"Thank you, Cedric. Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

I cannot say that I am in any way a modest man, but having the Princess thank me like this was something I was not use to nor did I know how to handle it. I decided not to say anything about it and took her hand.

"Lets get you back to your room before anyone finds out you were here."


	5. Chapter 5

I was preparing for the Princess' lesson the next night. I had cleaned the workshop and got all the supplies out. I decided I would prepare myself as well as I fixed myself up in front of the mirror. Of course, Wormwood had to be a bother to me as I was at the mirror.

"CAW!"

"Wormy, all I'm doing is preparing for tonight's lesson."

"CAW!"

"I guess you're right; she isn't going to care much about how I look, but I should at least look and dress professionally."

"CAW!"

"Well I can't just say 'no' to her at this point; I already made a promise."

"CAW!"

"Of course its not a date, Wormy; its just a private lesson. Besides, princesses are of no interest of mine unless if they happen to posess a magical amulet I can use for taking over the kingdom."

I then put some rosewater on my skin before heading out the door.

By the time I came to Princess Lore's room, she imediately opened the door before I was able to knock.

"Hello Cedric." said the Princess before she started to sniff, "Are you wearing rosewater?"

"Yes, but no time for that; lets get you to your classroom."

I took Princess Lore's hand and started to lead her down the hallway. As I was leading her, the Princess leaned her head on my shoulder. I gasped silently. I wanted to put my other arm around her, but I drew back, deciding it was nothing to concern myself with.

I walked the Princess up the stairs and opened the door of my workshop.

"Here we are." I said leading her in.

"It feels roomier in here." said Princess Lore, "Last time I was here, it felt a bit stuffy, but I can sense that its more spaceous now."

I didn't know how she knew that I had cleaned the room, but I decided not to bother with it.

"Lets start with some lessons now."

I took Princess Lore over to my work area and sat her down.

"Alight, so the first thing about potion making is to know your equipment."

I then handed the princess one of the flasks on my workdesk.

"This is called a Florence flask. The round bottom allows for boiling liquid and the long neck allows for mixing without spillage."

"Its a beautiful shape." said the Princess feeling the flask, "I love how the smoothe curves contour my hands."

It was then the flask slipped out of Princess Lore's hand and onto the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" gasped the Princess.

"No worries." I said picking up the flask, "This is why I use non-breakable glass for my equipment. The only downside is that is DOES scratch easily."

I then switched out the Florence flask with an Erlenmeyer flask.

"This Erlenmeyer flask has the same function as the Florence flask except the bottom is flat so you can set it on a flat surface."

"That makes sense." said the Princess.

"You catch on quickly. Might want to be careful with that dangerous mind of yours." I joked.

I could hear Wormwood grumbling on his purch.

"Oh Wormy, mind your own business." I said to him.

"Any other equipment you have for me?" asked the Princess.

"I do." I said placing a pestel and mortar in her hand, "The club is called a pestel and the bowl is called a mortar. Both are used to help grind ingredients into a fine powder and its themost essential tool for a sorcerer."

"Grind ingredients into a powder? I can do that." said Princess Lore.

"And you'll do more than that after we're done. As my apprentice, I'm going to to teach you everything there is to be a sorceress."

I then handed a pouch of smiling sunflower seeds to her.

"You can start grinding these seeds up. About a hefty pinch will do."

"You got it."


	6. Chapter 6

A few days had passed since our first lesson. I was amazed at how bright the Princess was and how easily she was catching on with her lessons. However, as intelligent as she was, her blindness was proving to be a hazard. She would always get meassurements of potions wrong and there wasn't a time where I wasn't rushing to to grab a flask before it fell to the floor.

"Princess Lore, please be careful. This liquid velvet is fine, but any other substance can poison, burn or even kill you."

I picked up the flask from the floor and started cleaning.

"I'm sorry." said Princess Lore, "I've been trying hard not to cause any accidents."

"I know." I sighed.

After I cleaned the mess, I went to get some scratch removing liquid for the flask. As I was whiping the flask with the liquid, my eye caught a glimpse of the Princess retracting.

"Princess Lore, its not your fault. Don't you still want to work with me?"

"I'm starting to have second thoughts."

From the tone of her voice, I knew something was wrong. I saw the frustration in her face and her body starting to curl up, as if trying to make herself smaller. I got up and walked over to her.

"Is there a reason you want to be able to see?"

"All my life, I've been told that I can't do anything. There wasn't a time that my father hadn't ordered servants, especially Alma, to keep me from getting myself hurt. Even if I were to simply trip and fall, everyone around me would panic and rush to my aid. I never understood why; all I knew was that it was because I was different.

Of course, as I got older, I started rebelling and doing everything my father didn't want me to do. Everytime I got caught, my father would make more provisions to keep me from disobeying him and I tried even harder to do the things I wasn't allowed to."

I could see Princess Lore's face scrunch as if trying to hold back tears.

"The last time I was caught, my father and I got in an argument. He wanted to talk to me alone and brought me to a secluded room. Our argument got intense and I couldn't help but feel trapped and tried to stand up for myself. That was when my father's heart gave out. I tried to help him, I even called out to the servants, but I couldn't do anything to save him.

"All I ever wanted was to show that I was capable of doing something, but all I'm ever good at is making everything worse. My birth caused my mother's death, I wasn't able to save my father, and I can't do anything as simple as not knocking a potion over and turning someone into a spider. If I keep on doing everything I'm incapable of, I might end up hurting-"

The Princess' eyes pooled over with tears and she sobbed into my robes. My heart both sunk and fluttered as she burried her face into my chest; I was not used to having such mixed feelings at once. Was I feeling this way out of pitty for her or was it something else? All I could think of was wrapping my arms around her to comfort her.

"Lore, you're not alone; I know what its like to feel powerless, but none of that was your fault and I don't want you ever thinking that it is. We're still going to continue on with experiments."

"But what if I cause more accidents?"

"Believe me, I've caused worse, and if I had given up that easily, I would've quit my job as a sorcerer years ago. Now lets think how we can improve some of the conditions of this workshop so you can continue working with me."

It was getting hard for me to think as Wormwood was clacking at the cage bars.

"Wormy, I already fed you. Please let me think."

But Wormwood just continued clacking and I felt my head about to burst from the annoying sound.

"Wormwood, if you don't stop that clacking-!"

That was when a spark ignited in my head and gave me an idea.

I then took a piece of paper and started to tear it apart.

"What are you doing?" asked the princess.

"Making labels." I replied.

"Labels?" asked the princess, "But I can't even see; how am I suppose to read?"

"You'll see."

I then grabbed my wand and started making dents in the paper with the tip. I then took Princess Lore's hand and placed it over the dents.

"I decided this could help if we added these to our equipment and work stations. We can make other modefications to the workshop to make it safer for you to work in."

"Well," said Princess Lore, "we can try."

The princess then smiled and chuckled.

"What is it?"

"You refered to me by name without calling me 'Princess'."

'I did? Oh Merlin's Mushrooms.' I thought to myself, blushing like a ripening strawberry.

"Its okay. I don't mind actually; theres no need for friends like us to be formal with one another."

I didn't respond. I just trued to shake it off and continue with improvements.


	7. Chapter 7

The Pri—I mean Lore, made great progress after we put on the labels and made other imrovements in the workshop. While we've yet to find a cure for her blindness, we've made great breakthroughs in other side projects, such as creating a new plant growth formula for my begonias made from ammonia and banana peels, which was suprisingly effective. She was turning out to be quite an impressive apprentice in the short amount of time I've been teaching her.

I was coming over to Lore's room to escort her once again to the workshop and she opened the door right before I was about to knock.

"I gave Alma some sleeping powder, so we don't have to worry about being loud."

I noticed she was holding a book in her arms and I read the title.

"_Pyramus and Thisbe_?"

"Father always forbid Alma from reading this to me because he found it too violent and tragic for me to handle, but I would always bribe her into reading it... I was wondering if you could read it to me as well."

I was quite confused at this demand.

"Why do you want me specifcally?"

"I like listening to your voice; its soothing." said Lore as she brushed back her hair.

I blushed. No one had ever given a compliment about my voice like that. I didn't know how to respond.

"Well... I was hoping we could continue on with your lessons, but I guess I could take the time to read to you."

Lore smiled and threw her arms around me; oh why does she always do that to me?

I took Lore to my workshop. I lead her over to my stool to sit her down when she stopped me.

"May I sit on your lap while you read to me?"

My face turned even more red; her requests were getting even more strange and I was too embarrased to say "No.", so I sat her down on my lap as she lay her head on my shoulder, opened the book, and began to read.

_'In the city of ancient Babylon, two families that lived in terraced houses right next to one another were great rivals. Now it happened that both families had children: a son named Pyramus, and a daughter named Thisbe. Both Pyramus and Thisbe had fallen in love with one another against their parents' wishes and each night, they would speak to one another through a crack in the wall connecting their hou-'_

I stopped as the corner of my eye caught Lore's hand reaching up to my face. I gasped and grabbed her hand before she was able to touch me.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted.

"I want to know what you look like."

"Weren't my hands enough?"

"No."

A knot formed in my throat. I had suspitions about her admiration towards me, but I had been too blind let myself see the depths of her obsession. I took her off my lap and stood up.

"Lore, whatever you're looking for in me, its not there."

"I-I don't understand."

"Lore, you're a princess and I'm just a sorcerer."

"I thought you said you were the greatest sorcerer in the universe."

"And you actually believe in that?"

"Well, you're the only sorcerer I know, so I wouldn't know."

"Of course you wouldn't. If you had met other sorcerers, you'd know that was a bold-face lie."

"Cedric, I don't care how good of a sorcerer you are; you're my friend. My only friend... maybe even more."

Lore got up and walked over to me.

"It may be small, but you've already played a significant role in my life, so I should be able to get to know you more."

Lore, once again, reached her hands out to my face. I grabbed both at once.

"You aleady know enough about me. Let us leave it at that while I go find possible cures for your blindness so you don't have to bother me anymore."

I let go of her hands and walked away to my workspace, looking over my spellbooks. I tried to ignore Lore as she walked over to me.

"Cedric, I don't care about finding a cure for my blindness anymore; I just want to be with you."

Lore's voice then became low and unsure.

"Am I really a bother to you?"

I tried to ignore Lore, looking away from her the best I could.

"Cedric, why are you distancing yourself from me?"

"Enough, Lore."

"Please trust me, Cedric, I've kept our secret; I haven't even told anyone about your plans to take over Enchania."

My eyes widened with shock and fear. I quickly got up and held Lore by the forearms.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?!"

"You did. Well, not directly;" she said nervously, "you're always talking to yourself about your plan to take over the kingdom by stealing some sort of magical amulet."

The weight of my knowledge of her knowing who I was sank. I knew now that I had to let my dark side out to keep her away from me.

"The people of your country are right; sorcerers do use their magic for evil purposes and I'm no exception."

"But I don't think you yourself are an evil man; what evil man would try to help a blind girl in curing her sight and teaching her magic?"

"One that would use her as means for fame, fortune, and power."

I let go of her and turned my back.

"Cedric, whatever reason you had before in trying to help me, that's changed; I can sense it inside of you."

I started walking over to the potions cabinet and opened to find an atomizer of the escense from the flower, forget-me-so. I quickly grabbed the bottle.

"Please, Cedric, we can work this out! Whatever pain you're going through, I can help; just let me be by your side!

I walked over to Lore and held the atomizer up to her face.

"I'm sorry Lore, but you're just too naiive to understand."

I sprayed the escense into her face. Instantly, she went unconscious. I dropped the bottle in shock of what I did.

Wormwood crowed.

"You dare to call me a coward?!" I shouted at my bird, "Some loyal friend you are."

I looked over at Lore's limp body. I knelt down and held her in my arms; my fingers touching her soft waves of hair. I winced, not wanting to think about her as I started to carry her out of the workshop. I knew by the time she woke up, she would not remember anything of our times together; I just wish I could forget as well.


End file.
